Healthcare facilities typically monitor many different physiological parameters of a patient while the patient is admitted to determine the patient's condition. Additional medical attention is not typically provided unless one of the measured physiological parameters deviates abnormally or the patient exhibits a serious condition. However, despite all the monitored physiological parameters, a patient's condition can deteriorate over time without being detected. The patient's deteriorating condition may take from minutes up to several hours and go unnoticed until it becomes an emergency. In some instances, the patient enters an undetected anaerobic state. By the time the patient's condition is detected, the patient may require emergency medical attention, or even worse, may die. Further, the inability to detect the patient's deteriorating condition can increase the length of stay of the patient, leading to increased medical bills and hospital costs.
Outside of ICU early patient mobilization contributes to improved patient recovery. Dependent on the disease, some patients can have a very low anaerobic threshold e.g. chronic disease like (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), cardiac patients with angina pectoris, coronary bypass surgery patients required to rest for considerable time and all patients with compromised peripheral perfusion, among others. In cardiac rehabilitation, regular patient exercise can be a key element of therapy for successful recovery. Up until now it has been challenging to find a “safe training range” for such patients. To avoid potentially dangerous situations during exercise of cardiac rehab patients, training instructors keep the exertion level rather low.
In addition, athletes seeking to improve their conditioning want to train near their anaerobic threshold without passing it. To know the level at which they should train, the athletes want to know their anaerobic threshold. Typically, multiple blood samples are taken during increased levels of training to obtain information regarding the athlete's anaerobic threshold. Blood tests are then performed on the samples to indicate the point at which the athlete passed the anaerobic threshold and entered an anaerobic state. Taking multiple blood samples while an athlete is training can be burdensome and time consuming. Furthermore, the athlete must wait for the blood test results to know their anaerobic threshold and modify their training regime.